When working at elevated positions, in order to protect anyone below the working position, a safety apparatus should be provided to arrest a fall of debris. Typically a safety net may be suspended just below the working height fastened, for example, to free standing columns or to fixtures mounted to a wall.
However for permanent fall arrest protection, for instance in engineering facilities having overhead fittings, maintaining a suspended safety net to span the entire overhead area may not be appropriate due to the construction of the facility, the working height, the obstruction it would cause or its cost. There is therefore a need for an improved safety apparatus which addresses these drawbacks, is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and easy to install. It is an object of the present invention to address this need or, more generally, to provide an improved safety net.